Blown Calls Take Attention From A Deserving Dallas Cowboys Team

For years now the naysayers of the world have made fun of the Dallas Cowboys for being a middle of the road, 8-8 ball club (even though many teams would die for 8-8). They said the team will choke in December, after scoring forty points per contest and winning four of four games last month, they said the Boys would choke in the post season. Then twitter was alive for 30 minutes Sunday afternoon with the hate flowing like water.

This team however, did not collapse. They didn’t panic, instead they held it together, fought and won the game. So now we turn on ESPN or Fox Sports to see if maybe quarterback Tony Romo is finally getting some love for his heroics. Instead, it is constant griping about the officiating and blown calls.

Romo didn’t cry about “home cooking” and then fumble the game away. He simply stepped up, and won.

First it was the pass interference called against linebacker Anthony Hitchens. No one noticed the face mask grab by Detroit tight end Brandon Pettigrew on the same play, just what Dallas “got away with.” Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford called it “home cooking.” I guess he doesn’t realize the officials aren’t actually from Dallas (I think Stafford may be from Dallas, Joe Buck mentioned that at least 20 times).

Now there is a report coming out about how on the critical 4th down pass to tight end Jason Witten, Dallas got away with a hold on Detroit defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Here we go again, more fuel to the fire.

So what’s the deal with the sour grapes on the missed calls? I mean believe me, I get past the point of frustrated by what these officials do. They can be arrogant, erroneous and frankly the league does nothing to hold them accountable for their tremendous failures.

In 2008 with a playoff berth on the line the Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers 39-38 after referee Ed Hochuli called a blatant fumble an incomplete pass. The call was reversed to a fumble, but Denver still kept the ball because the referee’s blew a whistle.

Hochuli admitted his mistake and the NFL gave him a “lower grade” for that season. So, San Diego was screwed out of a chance at the post season and Hochuli got less than 4.0 GPA. Like I said, no accountability for the striped crusaders.

The attention to the miscue by Hochuli was nowhere near as overwhelming as what is happening now. I don’t recall anyone looking into the finances of Pat Bowlen (Denver’s owner) to see if he made large deposits into the NFL’s off shore accounts. So what is fueling the continued and asinine affixation on bad calls in the Boys win?

It’s simple, by admitting the Cowboys won a game in the playoffs, especially when coming from behind would mean they aren’t the same old team. No one wants to admit that. Also, letting Dallas fans enjoy the game winning touchdown pass by Romo may lead to a belief that he actually can play in the clutch.

So rather than admit that all the talk of choking in big games may be just talk, the attention shifts to how Dallas didn’t win, but rather were given the game. Taking the attention off what the Cowboys did and focusing on what the refs did, keeps from admitting Dallas fought hard and won.

Now this leaves the door open to jump on the bandwagon if Dallas loses to Green Bay this Sunday. Instead of a defeat being at the hands of a good, playoff team, the narrative will be “they can’t win without the refs.”

Sadly, blown calls are a part of the NFL. This insane cry to make officiating perfect is leading to too many replays and a large and convoluted rule book. I wish there were no bad calls, but it goes both ways in almost every NFL game and the players have to play to whatever circumstance is in front of them. The fact is Romo didn’t cry about “home cooking” and then fumble the game away. He simply stepped up, and won.

Lions receiver Golden Tate put it best when he said “we can’t leave it up to the officials.” By scoring only 3 points in the second half and fumbling the game away twice with less than two minutes left, that’s exactly what the Lions did. As for the Cowboys, all they did was take advantage of the challenge in front of them.

On to Green Bay, let’s Finish The Fight Cowboys!